Louisiana Income Inequality

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) – A new study says the gap between Louisiana's rich and poor has grown wider over the last three decades, with the poverty-ridden state having among the highest rates of income inequality in the nation.

The richest 5 percent of households in Louisiana have average incomes more than 14 times larger than the bottom 20 percent of households, according to data from two Washington, D.C.-based think tanks, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and the Economic Policy Institute.

The groups advocate for low- to moderate-income households.

Louisiana has the sixth-widest gap in the country.

Average household income for the poorest 20 percent of households in Louisiana grew less than 10 percent since the 1970s, compared to 62 percent for the richest 20 percent in the state, according to the report.